SIMPLE RULES FOR BREEDING 107 



imaginary. With all kinds of animals in- 

 breeding has been practiced continually for 

 many years to fix a type or to secure high 

 grade exhibition stock. This is true of rabbits 

 as it is of horses and cattle. Now in the pro- 

 duction of animals purely for meat purposes, 

 in-breeding is neither desirable nor necessary. 

 In fact, cross-breeding seems to give better re- 

 sults when the cross is made only once. The 

 truth is that the average breeder does not un- 

 derstand what is meant by the terms. In 

 their book called "Rabbit and Cavy Cul- 

 ture," Messrs. Roth and Cornman devote 

 much space to the consideration of this whole 

 subject. The following is a brief and trench- 

 ant explanation of the terms mentioned : 



"Cross-breeding is the mating of two thor- 

 oughbred breeds of diverse species, as the 

 Hackney and Trotting horse, Alderney and 

 Holstein cow, Bulldog and Hound, Belgian 

 and Flemish, or Dutch and Silver, etc. Sub- 

 sequent matings of such offspring can be line- 

 or in-bred. 



"Line-breeding is mating individual spec- 

 imens of a breed when interruption in rela- 

 tionship exists by remoteness. 



